Rafael Araújo

I remember the exact moment I hit “pantry breaking point.” It was a Tuesday evening, I was halfway through a risotto, and I spent ten minutes digging through a mountain of half-opened plastic bags trying to find the arborio rice—only to realize I had three half-empty bags of it hidden behind a box of stale … Read more

Welcome to the Smart Renovation Guide. I’m so glad you’re here, because today we are tackling one of the most common—and most frustrating—design dilemmas I’ve encountered in my 15 years as an interior designer: the “closet-less” bedroom. I remember my first studio apartment in New York. It was a charming pre-war walk-up with soaring ceilings … Read more

I remember the exact moment I realized my living room had been staged a hostile takeover by a plastic, neon-green dinosaur. It was three years ago, during a cocktail party I was hosting for a new client. I was mid-sentence, discussing the merits of mid-century modern silhouettes, when I looked down and saw a stray … Read more

The bathroom is often the smallest room in the house, yet it carries the heaviest functional burden. In my fifteen years as an interior designer, I’ve found that the cabinet under the sink is the most neglected “prime real estate” in a home. We often treat it as a dark abyss where half-empty shampoo bottles … Read more

In my fifteen years of navigating the world of residential aesthetics, I’ve realized that the entryway is the most undervalued square footage in the house. It is the “handshake” of your home—the first impression guests receive and the final moment of transition before you step out into the world. I remember early in my career, … Read more

I remember walking into a high-end client’s penthouse in Manhattan a few years ago. The architecture was breathtaking—floor-to-ceiling glass, polished concrete, and a custom walnut desk that cost more than some mid-sized sedans. But when I sat down to discuss the spatial flow of the room, my eyes were immediately pulled downward. Beneath that gorgeous … Read more

In my fifteen years of navigating the ever-evolving world of residential aesthetics, I’ve encountered a universal truth: no matter how beautiful the architecture or how expensive the sofa, clutter is the silent killer of a room’s spatial flow. I remember early in my career, I was styling a penthouse in Chicago. The furniture was impeccable—mid-century … Read more

In my fifteen years of navigating the world of residential aesthetics, I have encountered one recurring “beautiful mess” that seems to plague even the most organized homeowners: the jewelry tangle. I remember walking into a client’s stunning Upper East Side penthouse—a space filled with velvet textures and mid-century modern masterpieces—only to find her priceless heirloom … Read more

I remember a Tuesday morning about ten years ago when I was rushing through a high-stakes renovation project. I was standing in a cramped, cluttered kitchen, juggling a heavy ceramic mug and trying to find a teaspoon buried under a mountain of mail and loose change. In that moment of friction, I realized that our … Read more

I still remember the first project I tackled as a junior designer fifteen years ago. It wasn’t a sprawling mansion or a high-rise penthouse; it was a tiny studio apartment in the city where the client desperately wanted “open shelving” in her kitchen. At the time, I thought, “How hard can it be? You just … Read more